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非英语专业学生英语学习动机调查研究(1)(2)

2013-09-12 01:15 4.2 Questions
    This survey aims to answer the following three questions: (1) What motivation do non-English majors have in FLL? (2) Do motivation factors have significant correlation with English achievement? (3) What’re the differences of motivation between successful learners and unsuccessful learners?
4.3 Subjects 
The third-year non-English majors have learned English for two years in Zhangzhou Teachers’ College. The level of their English learning should meet the requirement of College English teaching. The total number of the subjects is 55 third-year students of Class Two in Math Department in Zhangzhou Teachers’ College. They are educational majors. Each one is given a questionnaire. Of them, 54 questionnaires are valid. The rate of validity is 98.2%. They are divided into three groups according to their English level (Group A= CET-6, Group B= CET-4, Group C=Not Yet).
4.4 Instruments
The questionnaire (see APPENDIX) is used in the study, which is designed based on the particular situation under research. It is composed of 16 items which are put into five subscales including interest in English (Item 1 and 4), instrumental orientation (Item 5,6,7,8), integrative orientation (Item 9), attitudes towards learning English (Item 10,11,14,15,16) and parental encouragement (Item 2,3). Besides, Item 13 is concerned with the students’ real English level. Furthermore, Item12 is based on the 2005’s CET-4/6 reform that CET-4/6 won’t link with the academic degree anymore. That’s to say, if you don’t pass the CET-4, you will still be able to get your academic degree. They are just asked to mark the items with a tick which is suitable for them no matter how many items they will agree.
4.5 Procedure
Each student was given a questionnaire during the break. The questionnaire was completed under the supervision. Before giving out the investigation, they were assured that their answers remained anonymous and had no relation with their final scores. They were told to be as accurate and honest as possible since the success of the investigation depended upon their answers and they were required to complete the questionnaire within the break for 20 minutes. No communication was allowed between students during the completion of the questionnaire in case that they would be influenced by others’ opinions.

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4.6 The analysis of the collected data
   Three charts are concluded from the collected data as follows:
                                 Chart One
 
 
Chart Three
ITEM  A B C
14 one hour 0 8 9
 1.5-2 hours 3 6 2
 2.5-3 hours 4 1 2
15 long-term plan 4 5 2
 short-term plan 1 9 5
 no plan 2 8 13
16 some efforts 5 5 5
 not enough efforts 3 15 5
 no effort 0 3 10

   From this sector of Chart One, it is characterized that the efficiency of English learning of non-English majors is quite low. After two years’ learning, more than 40% of students don’t pass the CET-4. The number of Group A is just 16%. The problem of low English proficiency and insufficient learning generally exists among non-English majors.
   From Chart Two, only 3 of Group C choose Item 1 “I am interested in English”. On the contrary, there are 7 of Group A and 13 of Group B that choose Item 1. It is proved that interest can be the best teacher. Interest is important in expectancy × value theory. It is the same for Item 4 “I learn English because I want to get more information, learn about the culture and broaden my horizon.” According to the theories of motivation talked in Chapter Two and Three, it is evident that integrative motivation is low among unsuccessful learners, but quite high in successful learners. Most of successful learners are integrative-oriented. In contrast, it is obvious from Chart Two that for college non-English majors, the most important four motives are Item 5 “to get a good job”, Item 7 “to pass the CET-4/6 to get the diploma”, Item 8 “to pass the graduate entrance examination” and Item 9 “to adopt myself to the development of the society”, all of which belong to instrumental orientation. From this, it is concluded that it is quite contrary to Garden’s motivation theory, which considers instrumental motivations are less important factors in predicting learning success. Item 6 “I learn English in order to go abroad” also belongs to instrumental orientation. But it is unrealistic. Many students come from families that can’t afford to send their child abroad. As for Item 2 “I learn English because of my teachers’ appreciation ”, only one of the whole class agrees with it, which arouses public attention of teachers’ roles. But Item 3 “I learn English because of my parents’ requirements” and Item 10 “I want to learn English well because I admire those who do well in it”, which belong to extrinsic motivation, play an important role in English learning in a certain degree. That’s to say, extrinsic motivation is common in college non-English majors. The combination of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation is the best way for teachers in English teaching. It is optimistic that few students choose Item 11 “I dislike to learn English and If I pass the CET-4, I won’t learn it anymore ” and Item 12 “CET-4/6 doesn’t link with the academic degree after 2005’s reform, so I want to give up learning English.”, which prove that students realize the importance of English and begin to pay attention to it. However , the present status of students’ motivation in learning English is not quite clear to college English teachers. Some of the teachers even ignore the importance of student learning motivation and they just go on and on blindly. 您可以访问中国科教评价网（www.NsEac.com）查看更多相关的文章。
   According to Chart Three, it is attained that most students of Group C don’t spend enough time in learning English. Time is a kind of cost. It is essential in the expectancy × value theory. If the cost is at or near zero, the value will be at or near zero, too. If either the expectancy for success or the value placed on success is at or near zero, motivation will also be near zero. Because anything “time” zero is zero. As for Item 15 the goal setting, 13 of Group C don’t draw up any plan for their English learning. Goals can have a powerful influence on motivation. Goals increase self-efficacy because people set goals they believe they can meet and accomplishing them will increase their sense of competence. The significance of goal theory is being increasingly recognized in education. More than 50% of Group C and Group B students think they don’t make enough efforts or even no effort in English learning. But according to attribution theory, effort is one of the most frequent perceived causes of success or failure. In the final analysis, interest is the most influential variables in determining students’ time and efforts spent on English learning. In fact, all these factors correlate closely and act on each other.
To add up, there are two reasons that account for low motivation of college
non-English majors in English learning. “Firstly, in China, English is not used as a medium of daily communication. The student can not have enough experience of communication with the native speakers or living in the English-speaking countries. Therefore, his motivation is not as high as the English majors who must learn to communicate fluently in the target language. Secondly, the non-English majors have their own major courses to learn. They can not spend all their time and energy in learning English unlike English majors who devote most knowledge concerning to it.” [17]
4.7 Conclusion
From all the analysis in the above part, we gain the answers to the questions as such:
1) Instrumental motivation is the commonest one among the college non-English majors. Integrative motivation and extrinsic motivation rank two and three respectively. 内容来自www.nseac.com
2) It’s evident that motivational factors have significant correlation with English achievement.
3) Integrative motivation and intrinsic motivation are higher among successful learners than unsuccessful learners.
4.8 Implications
 According to the results and analysis of the investigation, we know that the result is like this:
1) The different levels of motivation of non-English majors in learning English have positive correlation with their English learning autonomy. That’s to say, the higher levels of motivation of non-English major are, the higher his English learning autonomy is.
2) The learner’s autonomy of non-English majors in learning English has positive correlation with their learning achievement. That’s to say, the higher English learning autonomy of non-English major is, the higher his learning achievement is.
3) The learning achievement of non-English majors have positive correlation with their different levels of motivation, in which learning autonomy is a decisive factor. That’s to say, the higher learning achievement of non-English major is, the higher his self-autonomy is, and the higher level of his motivation is. Therefore, how to enhance the learner’s autonomy is a key point for the teachers in English teaching.

5. How to improve English learning motivation of non-English majors
5.1 A framework for motivation strategies---using metacognitive strategies
It is not surprising that successful learners use more strategies than unsuccessful learners. Furthermore, different strategies are related to different aspects of L2 learning. The study of learning strategies is of potential value to language teachers. Teachers should identify those strategies which are crucial for learning and train students to use them.
Metacognitive strategies are those involved in planning, monitoring and evaluating learning, for example, the learner makes a conscious decision to attend to particular aspects of the input. Teachers should help students to know themselves, to have a clear idea about the difficulties and the weakness they have in their learning, to perceive the essence of the language, etc. Metacognitive strategies are especially important for freshmen. If freshmen have a basic knowledge about metacognitive strategies, they are sure to set learning goals, draw up study plan, etc. If they do, they will change their traditional learning concepts and adjust themselves to the learning of college English. 本文来自中国科教评价网
Metacognitive strategies are playing a significant role in improving intrinsic and integrative motivation. So is for college English learning.
5.2 Rebuild students’ English learning motivation
   Based on the survey, it is clear that instrumental and extrinsic motivation are predominant among students, whereas integrative and intrinsic motivation are certainly superior than them. So it is quite important to know how to reconstruct students’ English learning motivation.
5.2.1 The transformation from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation
Improving intrinsic motivation aims to increase the learning interest. According to Qin and Wen, they argue that “among all the variables, learning interest has both the greatest direct influence and the greatest indirect influence on students’ motivation”. However, as the survey shows, only 13% of the unsuccessful learners think “I’m interested in English.” As we know, the key issue of improving students’ intrinsic motivation is to arouse students’ curiosity and attention, and to create an attractive image for the course. The strategies can be divided into five main groups:
l Cultivate students’ English learning interest
l Help students set and monitor learning goals
l Give students guidance for study methods according to individual differences
l Foster students’ autonomy in study
According to the survey, only 40% of the whole class think “I’m interested in English.” But how to stimulate the English learning interest of the other 60% of the students? Intrinsic motivation comes from curiosity and interest. Nowadays, the multimedia teaching style is so common that the teaching and learning process can be very interesting. The process of English teaching and learning can be vividly described by a new word “edutainment”, which equals to education plus entertainment. Teachers should make the tasks varied and challenging and relate the content of the tasks to the learners’ natural interest. Up to now, since the multimedia computers are popular, the students won’t get bored in English learning. Students’ learning motivation can be greatly aroused when they study in such a dynamic, varied and natural learning environment. What’ more, personalization and involvement are two ways to arouse students’ interest and motivation.

Individual appropriately goal setting is one of the most effective ways to enable students to feel a sense of autonomy over their own learning, which has a powerful motivating function. In college English classes, many students who fail to set goals feel confused about what to learn in the class or even what has learned after class. Therefore, these students gradually lose their interest in English study. Teachers should provide guidance for students’ goals setting according to individual differences. Long-term goals should be at a high-level and not end with passing the exams, whereas short-term goals should be practical, clear and specific, leading to concrete outcomes. Finally, teachers should provide informational input or extrinsic rewards that increase students’ efficacy for achieving the goals.
As for learning methods, it is crucial for teachers to help students perceive the most suitable way. Learning without the suitable methods is wasting time but in vain.
Autonomy is one source of intrinsic motivation. The most obvious way for teachers to promote autonomy in their students is to give them choices. Besides, teachers can increase learner autonomy and motivation by creating high levels of student participation in learning activities, encouraging students to set and monitor learning goals and using assessments that emphasize learning and provide feedback. The learner’s autonomy has a positive correlation with the achievements.
5.2.2 The transformation from instrumental motivation to integrative motivation
Integrativeness, which contains integrative orientation, interest in foreign languages, and attitudes towards in L2 community. The following are the most efficient ways:
l Promote communicative teaching method
l Provide authentic materials for students
l Pay enough attention to the classroom setting
Up to now, “dumb English” is a common phenomenon among non-English majors. English learning is an organic combination of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Because of such kind of certificate motivation, students often pay great attention to reading, but ignore the competence cultivation of listening, writing, speaking, etc. Communicative teaching method follows the discipline of student-centered rather than teacher-centered, which aims to reduce the time of teachers’ monologue. It’s universal that students who have passed CET-4 or CET-6 can’t put their English into practice. 2005 is significant for non-English majors. The reform of unlinking the CET-4/6 with the academic degree is meaningful for English teaching and learning. To some extent, communicative method is fully embodied. Such kind of social culture is helpful for the promotion of personal English learning motivation.
What’s more, there is a need to make the English “real” by introducing to learners its cultural background, using authentic materials, etc. “Authentic materials bring learners closer to the target language culture, making learning more enjoyable and therefore more motivation. Authentic materials are produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community.”[18] The atmosphere of the class is enlivened by authentic materials.
In a teacher’s mind, motivated students are usually those who participate actively
in class, express interest in the topics, and study a great deal. Classroom setting is quite important for motivation increasing. Students can be highly motivated if teachers motivate students into the lesson, vary the activities, tasks, and materials, use cooperative rather than competitive goals. At the opening stages of lessons, it has been observed that remarks which teachers make about forthcoming activities, can lead to higher levels of interest on the part of the students. Then it is obvious that lessons which always consist of the same routines, patterns have been shown to lead to a decrease in attention and increase in boredom. Varying the activities, tasks, and materials can help to avoid this and increase students’ interest levels. “Furthermore, cooperative learning activities have been found to increase the self-confidence of students, including weaker ones, because every participant in a cooperative task has an important role to play. Knowing that their team-mates are counting on them can increase students’ motivation.”[19]
5.3 Suggestions for teachers
   According to the survey, though only 2% of the students think “I learn English because of my teachers’ appreciation”. But it is clear that a teacher plays an important role in students’ motivation promotion. It’s argued that teachers’ appreciation, praise and compliment can greatly motivate students. That’s to say, the direct source of English learning motivation for students is teachers’ attitudes towards them. A teacher can be an organizer, a controller, a resource-provider, a participant or even a friend. Following are ten commandments for teachers :1) teacher modeling; 2) create a safe and orderly environment; 3) provide an umbrella for the lesson; 4) set up a close and supportive relationship with students; 5) enhance students’ self-confidence of English learning; 6) bring pleasures into classroom; 7) increase students’ autonomy of English learning; 8) make learning activities personalized; 9) help students realize their learning purposes; 10) make students familiar with the culture of target language.

6. Conclusion （科教作文网http://zw.nseAc.com）
    The research of English learning motivation is helpful for us to understand the psychology of English learning, society elements and individual discrepancies, what’s more, it is meaningful to explore the methods and strategies to inspire students’ English learning motivation.
The results of the survey reveal the main types of motivation of college non-English majors, the influence of the motivational factors on students’ English learning, and motivational differences between successful learners and unsuccessful learners.
It’s universally acknowledged that motivation plays a very important role in successful second language acquisition. Since motivation is a very complicated construct, the results of this survey cannot reflect all the aspects of this multifaceted issue. Numerous studies will still be conducted to study motivation to stimulate students’ greatest English learning motivation.

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